The research reviewed catchment response due to urban development on the basis of comparative assessment. This required the identification of similar rainfall events during different development stages in the catchment for which gauged flow rates were recorded. The hypothesis which is reviewed here is that urban development which creates more impervious areas on the one hand also generated longer times of concentration due to the changes in the length of the flow path as well as more temporal storage capacity which could result in a higher groundwater recharge. Three catchments in the Tshwane Metropolitan Council Area were evaluated to test the hypothesis by comparing the cumulative rainfall and the cumulative runoff produced by similar rainfall events for different development levels in the catchment. This analysis compared years that had similar volumetric rainfall, antecedent conditions and temporal distributions. There was a general trend indicating an increase in the percentage runoff produced as urban development increased, but certain anomalies were observed.